Name: Meat Salad
Ingredients: 1 pint cold cooked meat, thinly sliced and cut into small pieces; ⅓ cup French dressing; 1 tablespoon minced parsley; 1 teaspoon onion juice; sprigs of parsley for garnish

Why it works: Parsley and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,843 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Meat Salad

Ingredients

1 pint cold cooked meat, thinly sliced and cut into small pieces
⅓ cup French dressing
1 tablespoon minced parsley
1 teaspoon onion juice
sprigs of parsley for garnish

Directions

Prepare the dressing

In a bowl, combine the French dressing with minced parsley and onion juice.

Assemble and chill

Layer half of the meat in a salad bowl.
Pour some dressing over the meat.
Add another layer of meat and more dressing, repeating until all ingredients are used.
Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
Garnish with sprigs of parsley before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Meat + oniontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,364 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Meat + parsleytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,040 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cold cooked meat: Forms the bulk of the salad and provides its main substance and protein.
French dressing: Adds moisture and tangy, sweet-sharp flavor that soaks into the meat layers.
Minced parsley: Contributes fresh, herbal aroma and a bit of color to the dressing.
Onion juice: Adds a sharp, savory onion flavor that seasons the meat.